by Eight new productions, a world premiere, a European premiere – and a name change: the Royal Ballet and Opera, as it is now known, announced an ambitious program on the main stages and the Linbury stage for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday. .
Mark-Anthony Turnage’s musical Festen will premiere based on Thomas Vinterberg’s 1998 cult film, which also became a successful stage play. The libretto is written by Lee Hall, directed by Richard Jones, directed by Edward Gardner and starring Allan Clayton, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Gerald Finley. Other new opera productions include Ted Huffman (who previously directed the acclaimed 2016 stage production of Philip Venables’ 4.48: Psychosis) making his stage debut with Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman directed by Damiano Michieletto (a joint production that debuted in Sydney last year); and Leonard Bernstein’s double bill, which marks the first time his two short operas Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place have been staged at Covent Garden.
Barrie Kosky’s Ring Cycle continues with the second opera of the tetralogy, Die Walküre. Antonio Pappano directs, Christopher Maltman returns as Wotan, Lise Davidsen sings the role of Siegline and Elisabet Strid, Brünnhilde. Pappano’s tenure as music director ends at the end of the current 23/24 season, Jakub Hrůša does not take over until September 2025, but the Czech conductor will also be at the house next season, reviving Claus Guth’s . The Jenůfa stage that won Olivier. Principal guest director nominee Speranza Scappucci helms her first main stage production: Richard Jones’ La Bohème, and this year’s Puccini anniversary is further highlighted by a revival of Jonathan Kent’s Tosca (directed by Eun Sun Kim, in his home debut), and the classical music of Andrei Serban. staged Turandot, directed by Rafael Payare with Sondra Radvanovsky and Ewa Plonka sharing the title role.
The Royal Ballet will present the European premiere of Wayne McGregor’s MaddAddam, based on Margaret Atwood’s trilogy of novels (Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam) with a specially commissioned score by Max Richter. Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet is back for its 60th anniversary; Also 60 years old is John Cranko’s take on Pushkin’s Onegin which will be on the main stage just a few months after its musical counterpart. Choreographers including Christopher Wheeldon, Joseph Toonga, Kyle Abraham and Crystal Pite will be presenting new work. George Balanchine’s triple bill will celebrate the leading US choreographer who was born 120 years ago.
Christmas offerings include Frederick Ashton’s evergreen Cinderella and Antony McDonald’s colorful staging of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.
The chief executive of the Royal Ballet and Opera, Alex Beard, acknowledged the challenging times for the performing arts and opera in particular, with many companies forced to make cuts, changes or even close due to the loss of public funding. “We have suffered our own cuts – 10% to Arts Council funding, and the economic pressures we feel are no different from the pressures others feel,” he said. “[But] in that context it is so important to put a confident foot forward and invest in the future of the art form.”
My favorite sound? The intake of breath of the school groups when they realize they have crossed the threshold into this incredible portal
Alex Beard
He was cautiously optimistic that England’s troubled National Opera would continue to have a presence in the capital. “Of course we need a second opera company here. Many voices are very important,” he said, referring to the thriving opera scenes in cities such as Paris and Berlin, both of which have several opera companies.
The average age of Covent Garden audiences has fallen from 52 to 48 in the past five years he said, opera-goers aged 20 to 29 have more than doubled, ballet audiences have grown almost as much.
“In a fragmented world where so much of people’s cultural life is digitally mediated we bring people together in one space to reflect on the parts of life that really matter, and we do so with unparalleled force. What’s really exciting is how that turns out. Not only with our long-standing members but also with the next generation of ballet and opera lovers.” said Beard.
More than 100,000 people have signed up to the Young ROH scheme which allows 16 to 25-year-olds to buy tickets for £30 for midweek shows. Friday Rush seats are also released every week, offering last minute and reduced price tickets. Ticket prices range from £3 at the Linbury, £4 for major state ballets and £8 for operas, to £340 for those who want the best seats in the house for Die Walküre.
The evolution of the full name brings together the two companies that are home to the Royal Opera House in what Beard describes as an “overdue change”. “The Royal Opera House”, as the company was previously called, did not indicate that the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera companies were part of the same organisation, Beard said.
“Our name describes the whole area that we do,” he said, adding that it shows that ROH is just one of many places where the company has experience now. Beard mentioned their ever-expanding learning program that currently works in 1,500 schools reaching 40,000 children, and this coming season, there will be 11 productions in 1,500 theaters around the world.
Brexit is adding costs and bureaucracy he said, but it hasn’t stopped them attracting the artists they want. “The visa system is much more difficult if you’re an individual or an orchestra playing or touring in Europe, which damages the ecology as a whole”, but he praised the extension of theater tax relief in the last budget – “a huge help” .
“I think that, after a while of the arts not being in the center of attention, both parties are grateful for the value they can bring,” he said, adding that he is in discussions with a team the shadow culture of Labor and, if they were in power. at the end of the year, he would look forward to working with them, noting at the Labor Creatives launch in March that “Keir Starmer spoke with passionate authenticity about the importance of music to him”.
He said he was often asked to name his favorite opera or ballet. Impossible – “but I can tell you which sound I prefer. This is when a school group enters the auditorium for the first time as part of a school evening and you can hear that collective ‘Aaaah’ – the intake of breath when they realize they’ve crossed the threshold into in this incredible portal, and the end is where they go anew, whether Swan Lake or Magic Flute, these are works that can speak to people with extraordinary force and directness.”
• General bookings for the 2024-25 season open on Wednesday 10 July.
